The Bookseller.com

4th July 2009

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Brits not entitled to Australian rights

31.03.08

British publishers are not entitled to Australia as a territory, writes Henry Rosenbloom, founder and publisher of Scribe Publications, in The Age. "There's been an undeclared guerilla war going on for decades between British and Australian publishers. The trouble is that British publishers have almost always insisted, when they acquire domestic rights, that so-called "Commonwealth" rights — that part of the globe that used to be coloured red — be included. They have even tended to refuse to consider buying rights in books that originate in Australia."

"It remains the case that most British publishers regard themselves as entitled to Australia as a territory, and refuse to cede the ground. I'm convinced that they don't understand the deep resentment, bordering on fury, that this stance is arousing in Australian publishing. It is a refrain I hear constantly, whether I'm talking to colleagues in multinational houses or to fellow independents. There is no question in my mind that Britain's position is not sustainable.

"I understand very well that the British book trade is in a sorry state, and that UK houses have come to rely on Australia to subsidise their often marginal domestic operations.

"But we must put our own interests first."

The Age

Rights International Australia